CARICOM countries succumbed to US pressure on Cuba vote

October 30, 20262 min read

Dear Editor,

The voting at the United Nations calling for the United States to end the blockade against Cuba is very revealing. Seven CARICOM countries voted to end the criminal blockade; three abstained; three absented themselves; and one voted against.

This is a huge change. Since 1992, Cuba has been putting forward this resolution^[1], and it was solidly supported by CARICOM countries. What has changed?

In Cuba, the situation has gotten far worse. The pressures caused by the criminal and illegal blockade have been increased. Even fuel is sanctioned now. This is causing great suffering in the Cuban population. People are dying because hospitals, which were already short of many things are becoming dysfunctional. Infant mortality has jumped, persons with cancer, heart ailments, etc are dying because they cannot be operated on or treated properly.

Older people and children are dying from heat due to the inhumane fuel sabotage.

In countries of the Caribbean, in many cases with the same parties in government, several have changed their positions. As stated above one even voted against and six others either abstained or did not show up for the vote.

Clearly those countries succumbed to the pressure from the United States. This was revealed in the case of Jamaica. The day before the vote the Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Mr. Alando Terrelonge made a speech in which he forcefully presented a strong case to support Cuba and for the US to end the blockade. Lo and behold, the next day at the General Assembly of the UN, Jamaica abstained from the vote. This gives an idea of the kind of pressures Caribbean countries have come under.

For those countries that abstained, stayed away and voted against, I wonder if they reflected on what could be the consequences of their actions. Objectively they have joined with the US to starve and punish the Cuban people.

Secondly, they have, by their actions emboldened the United States to do as it pleases. That is to invade countries, kidnap people including heads of state and governments and to continue with the extra judicial killings that are taking place in our region.

Now that those countries have shown themselves to be susceptible to pressures, will they join the US in its campaign against the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the International Criminal Court (ICC)? Will they now support the genocide in the Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem? Already they are dead quiet on these issues.

The voting at the UN is deeply worrying because it has divided CARICOM. A divided CARICOM is a weakened CARICOM and certainly not in the interest of the Caribbean working people.

For those countries that stood up and voted with Cuba, I salute you, for you are on the correct side of history.

It is time for the Caribbean People to demand that a halt be put to this apparent surrender.

Yours faithfully,
Donald Ramotar
Former President

References

General Assembly weighs US embargo against Cuba ahead of 34th vote | UN Newsnews.un.org ↩

General Assembly weighs US embargo against Cuba ahead of 34th vote | UN News

news.un.org, Oct 27, 2026

The General Assembly opened its annual debate on the US economic embargo against Cuba on Tuesday. On Wednesday, 28 October, Member States will vote for the 34th time on a resolution calling for it to end. Every year at around this time, the assembly – where each of the UN’s 193 Member States has one vote – takes up the “necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”. And every year, whatever the political climate, the issue generates plenty of diplomatic heat. The debate usually spills over two days as countries and regional groups take the floor to explain their positions. A 33-vote record The assembly has called for an end to the embargo, first imposed in 1960, on 33 previous occasions. Support has grown markedly since the first vote in 1992, when 59 countries backed the resolution, three opposed it, 71 abstained and 46 did not vote. It peaked at 191 votes in favour in 2015, 2016 and 2017, during the thaw in relations under US President Barack Obama. The United States and Israel voted against in 2015 and 2017; in 2016, both abstained. Some countries have shifted position as governments have changed, but many have held the same line for decades. Canada, China and Russia have long voted in favour, while the United States, backed by Israel, has voted against every year bar one. ... What the resolution says As in previous years, the Cuban-drafted text reaffirms the sovereign equality of States and the principles of non-intervention and non-interference in their internal affairs, as well as freedom of international trade and navigation – all enshrined in numerous international legal instruments. It also voices concern over laws such as the Helms-Burton Act, enacted by the United States on 12 March 1996, whose extraterritorial effects, it says, undermine the sovereignty of other States, the legitimate interests of people and entities under their jurisdiction and freedom of trade and navigation. It calls on all States to refrain from adopting such measures and urges those that still apply them to repeal them.

Source

CARICOM countries succumbed to US pressure on Cuba vote in Kiskadee Watch, October 30, 2026